The nation's second largest school district canceled classes this morning; speaking to children about terrorist acts; the impact of a Federal Reserve hike and more.
Threat assessments at odds: LA shuts down schools; NYC calls it hoax
The two largest school districts in the U.S. received threats this morning and officials in those cities chose to handle it in two very different ways.
Here in Los Angeles, L.A. Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines shut down all LAUSD campuses this morning after what was described as a ‘credible threat.’ Parents were instructed to keep their kids home, and those who had already dropped their children off were required to come back with proper ID to pick them up. Faculty and staff were also told to stay home. The email threat has been traced to Germany, though there is little other information available about the nature of the threat or how its credibility was determined.
Meanwhile, the nation’s largest school district, New York Public Schools, received a similar email threat but it was determined to be a hoax. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton suggested during a press conference that LAUSD had overreacted in closing all its schools so hastily.
For more on this story and a list of school districts in the greater Los Angeles that remain open, click here.
Guests:
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, KPCC Education Reporter
Brian Michael Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President of the Rand Corporation and one of the nation's leading experts on terrorism and homeland security
LAUSD families scramble after threat shuts down 1,000-plus schools
Parents were notified of the LAUSD closures this morning, due to a “credible threat,” not long before school bells were scheduled to ring - leaving hundreds of thousands of families scrambling for childcare.
Some parents were informed of campus closures this morning via cell phone, while others heard of the news on the radio. Zayda Hernandez, like other parents, drove her son to school despite hearing of the closure to ensure that the campus was closed indefinitely.
Children who have already been dropped off at school will be supervised until parents with proper identification return for their children. For parents who are unable to pick up their child, Metro busses and trains will provide free transportation to students with a valid LAUSD identification card until noon.
LAUSD Board president Steve Zimmer asked employers to make accommodations for parents struggling to find care for their kids. Zimmer pleaded, “I want to be very clear: We need cooperation of the whole of Los Angeles today.”
How did the closure impact you? Has the whole of LA come together today?
Have you had to leave work early to return for your student? Has the communication been clear and helpful? Parents with questions or concerns can call the LAUSD hotline at (213) 241-2064 for more information.
Guests:
David Tokofsky, former LAUSD board member
Ted Cruz’s rising poll numbers and what to expect from 2015’s final GOP debate
It’s time to break out your presidential debate bingo cards or invent some rules for a drinking game (if you don’t feel like inventing your own, author/journalist Matt Taibbi crowdsources a list of rules on his
for each debate). The final GOP debate of 2015 is upon us.
Las Vegas is the location and the setup will be similar to the other debates we’ve seen thus far. The undercard debate at 6p ET will feature Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, and George Pataki, who are all bringing up the rear in terms of poll numbers. The main debate will kick off at 8:30p ET with frontrunner Donald Trump situated in the middle of the stage, flanked by Dr. Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz. Also in the main debate, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Rand Paul.
One interesting storyline coming into this debate is Ted Cruz’s rapid ascent to near the top of the polls in Iowa, just seven weeks out from the caucuses. A Des Moines Register-Bloomberg Politics poll that came out Saturday has Cruz ahead of Trump by 10 points among likely caucus-goers. Cruz is the Tea Party favorite and, in the minds of many GOP voters, the closest thing running to a true conservative.
What are you expecting to see from the Republican candidates at Tuesday’s debate? Is there anything they can prove to voters at this point that they haven’t proven in previous debates? To what can we attribute Ted Cruz’s recent rise in the polls? Is this a trend we should expect to continue to see throughout primary season?
Guests:
Eli Stokols, national politics reporter for POLITICO covering GOP 2016 field
Reed Galen, Republican political strategist and owner of Jedburghs, LLC., a public affairs and campaign consultancy firm in Orange County
Talking with kids about LAUSD threat closure
Paris. San Bernardino. LAUSD. With terrorism in the headlines and hitting closer to home, it can be difficult for parents to discuss these events to questioning children.
After the attacks in Paris, articles emerged with advice on how parents can talk to their kids about what happened. With ISIS setting its sights on the West, parents wanted to know how much to tell their children, what they should let them watch and how the conversation should start.
With a “credible threat” to the LAUSD Tuesday, Angeleno kids could feel confused, upset or anxious knowing the danger is much closer than Paris. So how should parents respond?
Guests:
Stephen Brock, Ph.D., leading crisis expert in California for the National Association of School Psychologists
Betsy Brown Braun, child development and parenting expert; best selling author of "Just Tell Me What to Say: Sensible Tips and Scripts for Perplexed Parents" (HarperCollins)
Gauging a Fed rate hike’s impact on the economy
The Federal Reserve will convene this Wednesday for their last meeting of 2015 -- and the smart money is on Janet Yellen and company to finally raise interest rates.
A rate hike will end 7 years of historically low interest rates in the country, which has made borrowing money dirt cheap. At the same time, low rates have also hit savers hard.
What is the economic impact of a rate hike? For Southern Californians, would higher interest rates ease what has been a difficult real estate market?
Guests:
David Wessel, Director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, which provides independent, non-partisan analysis of fiscal and monetary policy issues
Mark Schniepp, Director, California Economic Forecast, an economic consulting firm that forecasts real estate prices in Southern California based out of Santa Barbara; former Senior Economist for the California State Controller's Office
Pulitzer-winning car critic: Self-driving vehicles could put end to car ownership
From Google to Ford to Elon Musk, seems like everyone nowadays is working on a version of the self-driving car.
The autonomous vehicle, when it actually becomes a reality, is supposed to relieve traffic jams, takes the stress of the daily commute from the embattled driver, and make the road generally a safer, saner place.
According to Pulitzer Prize-winning auto critic Dan Neil, the self-driving car will also end the need for us to own a car.
Just how? Stay tuned for Larry’s conversation with Dan Neil.
Guest:
Dan Neil, Pulitzer Prize-winning auto columnist at the Wall Street Journal and author of a piece titled, “Could Self-Driving Cars Spell the End of Ownership?”